I live in St Remy and love my region. I arrange tailor made tours.
If you want to know more about Provence, check My colleague Julie Mautner's blog :
ProvencePost.com
who is also offering travel planning services.
Contact Julie at provenceblog@aol.com.
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Friday, January 23, 2015

Touring in The Luberon : Bonnieux

Bonnieux is only located about 4 km from Lacoste and you can even see the village from Lacoste.
Its name might come from "Bon Oeil" i.e. good eye for its spectacular view from many spots in the village.

Bonnieux is of course well known for being the "shopping and eating place" of Peter Mayle. Slightly larger (1 500 inhb) than Menerbes Peter Mayle was often going there.

If you like to climb street, that's the village for you !
However watch out the traffic since Bonnieux has one of the only road linking the Norht Luberon to the South Luberon.

The FRIDAY MARKET is a must. It stretches from the square in the village down to the new church by the road at the bottom of the Village. Rather big it's best to go early around 9am before the crowd.

What to see in Bonnieux :

- The Old Church at the top of the Village dating from the 12th C,
- The walls protecting the village from the 12th C,
- The close by "Pont Julien" a roman bridge (down in the Valley),
- The "Jardin de la Louve", one of the most remarkable garden, By booking only (min 10 people) some visits are also arranged by the Tourist Office.
- The "Musée de la Boulangerie"(well it needed a bit of dusting and modernising last time I went).

You might bump into John Malkovitch who owns a property nearby.

Where to eat :
Bonnieux Offers a good selection of restaurant. You will get a nice panorama from one of the bar located in the upper part but those bars are on the main road....

*- Le Fournil in the centre.
The restaurant is partly carved in the rock.
2 courses set lunch around 21€, 2 course set dinner around 41€
closed on Monday Tuesday
Best to book
Nice terrasse

*- Le Café de la Gare
One of my fav.
A bit tricky to find in the "Quartier de la gare" (old train station neighboroud).
It is like what we call a "routier" i.e a restaurant designed for truck drivers, providing a nice set menu at a reasonnable price.
The new owners (2014) expanded the garden terrassse and are probably working right now on the main dining room but kept the 14€ 3 courses lunch formula (2014).
Only open for Lunch Monday to Saturday only.
Compulsory to book.